EMOTIONAL VIDEO: UMC honors 18-year-old organ donor killed in crash

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — UMC staff took time Wednesday morning to pay tribute to 18-year-old Michael Sigler for donating his organs. Sigler was in a motorcycle crash Friday and had been on life support.

This was UMC’s first Honor Walk and staff members lined the hallway as Sigler made his final journey from the UMC Trauma Center to the operating room for the organ donation.

“He saw the precious gift that life is,” Sigler’s mother, Courtney Kaplan, said. “He saw that there is a bigger picture.”

Sigler had made the decision just two months earlier to be an organ donor.

He had just received his cap and gown for graduation from Cimarron High School on the day of the crash. He was on his way after school to help a friend with homework when he collided with a car.

“Today, our team had the unique privilege of paying our respects to a true hero who will continue to touch the lives of others,” said UMC CEO Mason VanHouweling. “As we mourn the loss of a remarkable, compassionate young man, we must also celebrate his selfless decision to give the gift of life.”

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